The Paul Dyck Collection

A Rare Collection of Plains Indian Objects from the late 1700s - to pre-1890s

Images from the Offical Signing for the Dyck Collection

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center has signed a gift/purchase agreement to acquire the Paul Dyck Collection, recognized as the most historic and important privately held collection of Plains Indian artifacts, art work, and related materials in the world. The collection has been on loan to the Historical Center while negotiations for its acquisition progressed over the past 15 months.

The collection includes clothing, eagle feather bonnets, bear claw necklaces, buffalo hide tipis and tipi furnishings, shields, cradles, peace medals, moccasins, and much more. It dates from the late 1700s to pre-1890s, a period identified by Paul Dyck as the “Buffalo Culture” era. Buffalo Bill Historical Center staff members are currently preparing an exhibition plan, and anticipate that is going to be a few years before the collection is available for public viewing.

The Dyck Collection has neither been available to, nor viewed by, the general public; and a timeline for public viewing at the Historical Center has not been established. “This is just the start of the great things this collection makes available to us and to the public,” stated Dr. Robert Shimp, former Buffalo Bill Historical Center Executive Director. “Our staff needs time to complete a detailed inventory, assess conservation and storage needs, and research and document individual objects. Then we can create an exhibition and publication that do the collection justice.”

Praises for the Dyck Collection

Buffalo Bill Historical Center staff, trustees, and advisory board members as well as Paul Dyck Foundation staff, were quick to praise the completion of the agreement.

“We are very pleased to have signed an agreement to acquire this collection, which is truly a national treasure,” said Dr. Shimp. “We’ve been interested in it for more than 30 years, knowing that it would add significantly to our Plains Indian Museum collection. In our view, the BBHC is the best possible place for it to be protected, catalogued, and ultimately made available for visitors to see and scholars to research.”

“This collection is very simply one of a kind,” Alan K. Simpson, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said. “We always knew we could not only preserve and interpret it, but we could also honor the memory of our dear friend Paul Dyck and his noble life’s work on behalf of Native Americans. Now we can begin a focused fundraising effort to complete the purchase and to underwrite the cost of bringing the collection into our museum, conserving it, preparing it for exhibit, and the many other tasks associated with the acquisition and display of a rare collection of this size and stature.”

“We feel very confident that the Historical Center is the most desirable location for the collection,” John Dyck, President of the Paul Dyck Foundation said. “It will be a monument to a lifetime of devotion by my father to Native Americans.”

“It is such an honor to have a collection of this significance come to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center,” stated Curly Bear Wagner, Plains Indian Museum Advisory Board member. “It’s truly hard to put into words how happy we are. It’s more than a feather in our cap: It’s like we’ve been awarded a whole war bonnet.”

“This is a beautiful, one-of-a-kind collection,” Marilyn Hudson, Plains Indian Museum Advisory Board Member, said. “It’s most important that something of such beauty be cared for properly and preserved for many future generations. The Historical Center can do that.”

Paul Dyck and his Collection

“Consisting primarily of many early to mid-nineteenth century Plains Indian cultural materials, the Paul Dyck Collection is recognized by scholars as one of the largest and most significant private collections of Native American art and artifacts,” said BBHC Plains Indian Museum Curator Emma I. Hansen. “Bringing the Paul Dyck Collection to the Plains Indian Museum ensures that these exceptional objects are preserved and the collection remains intact for current and future generations of interested Native Americans and others with interest in Plains Indian arts and cultures.”

Paul Dyck, a descendent of Flemish painter Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599 – 1641), was born in Chicago in 1917. The collection was started by Dyck’s father in 1886 and was, according to family sources, “systematically collected, rather than haphazardly acquired.”

The young Dyck lived with his family in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, near Blackfeet reserves. Later, Dyck was sent to Europe to apprentice with an uncle who was a successful artist, and by age 15, he was on his own, studying at the Munich Academy. He served in World War II and then settled onto an Arizona ranch where he became an author, illustrator, lecturer, and painter of western subjects. Over time, Dyck developed many friendships with Blackfeet, Crow, Cheyenne, Lakota, and other Plains Native people.

Contact Information

For news related information on the Paul Dyck Collection please contact Lee Haines or by phone at 307.578.4014.
Please note that research and viewing requests are not being accepted for the Dyck Collection at this time. Thank you.

IMAGES
Bear Claw Necklace. Pawnee. Paul Dyck Collection. Buffalo Bill Historical Center.
Male Doll. Lakota. Paul Dyck Collection. Buffalo Bill Historical Center.
Man's Shirt. Nez Perce. Buffalo Bill Historical Center.